Help! Have I killed my courgette plant?!

Noozan

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

Should mine have flowered by now? I've checked today and there's no sign at all of any, but the plants seem to be growing. They're in big buckets in the sun.

I have different varieties dotted about - some are flowering and others are still putting on leaf growth. Don't worry too much, once they do start flowering, you'll have more courgettes than you know what to do with :rotfl:

Gingham_Ribbon

Very exciting. I've been putting my tomatoes and peppers in bigger tubs too today. I hope there isn't a storm in the night. They've been quite happy on my windowsill.

JoeyEmma

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

Should mine have flowered by now? I've checked today and there's no sign at all of any, but the plants seem to be growing. They're in big buckets in the sun.

I think it depends where you live and how long they've been outside.

Watching gardening programmes on tv, I think things down south are always a bit further on than up north. My corgettes are quite small and have no sight of flowers. Nobody on our lotties have flowers either. I'm in Manchester and not stressed a bit about it.

Gingham_Ribbon

It's all new to me but I'm really optimistic about it. My little paved yard is becoming a little garden. I love it.

Rave

johnnytee wrote:

Courgettes are virtually indistructable as long as you can keep slugs away from them when they're young. Keep it well watered in this weather and you should have no problems.

Yeah, they did mine. Planted out 7 really healthy young plants, and they had been munched to bits within two days. I was gutted because they were the only plants I'd grown from seed that had sprouted well. I had three more which I've just planted out, and I ended up ringing the bed with slug pellets. I'm a bit worried there'll be residues of the poison in the fruit though- anyone know? Is there another good way off keeping slugs off?

Penelope_Penguin

Rave wrote:

Yeah, they did mine. Planted out 7 really healthy young plants, and they had been munched to bits within two days. I was gutted because they were the only plants I'd grown from seed that had sprouted well. I had three more which I've just planted out, and I ended up ringing the bed with slug pellets. I'm a bit worried there'll be residues of the poison in the fruit though- anyone know? Is there another good way off keeping slugs off?

Oooooh dear, sounds like you may have used too many pellets. Birds can eat the pellets, and may be poisoned. Common mistake - a courgette palnt will need only 4 or 5, but I've seen people using a thick blue ring around plants. A ring of salt will do well, as it tends to dry out slugs, and they don't like it. It will wash away in rain, though.

Egg shells, spiky twigs, or fire ash form a physical barrier that slugs don't like.

If you feel brave or vicious, you can go out at night with a torch and pick them off and then cut in half (!?!?!) or drown them.

"Slug pubs" can work well. :beer: Sink a cup into the soil near the plant. Add beer, and the slugs will (apparently) be attracted (aren't we all!!), fall in and drown. A happy death!

All tips apply equally to snails.

Best of luck. Penny. x

Rave

Hmm, should have used barbecue ash then I suppose. Never mind, it was a scene of snail carnage when I went round to my mother-in-law's earlier to have a look at them (I don't have a garden so I plant veg in hers), so the pellets have clearly worked well. The birds have a generously stocked bird table to keep them well fed, so I doubt they've any need to go picking up slug pellets. I'm just a bit concened about poisoning myself_pale_.